Review 1942 MOBILE

Old school retro video game ports for mobile can be really hit or miss. Sometimes they’ll be a faithful adaption, other times they’ll be lazy ports that either perform poorly or the controls weren’t optimized for mobile game controls. Luckily, for a game like 1942 Mobile for Android, top-down shooters translate pretty well to the mobile platform.

1942 is an old top-down shooter that first released in the arcade back in 1984. In this game, you play as a plane flying in the Pacific Ocean during World War II as it makes its way to defeat the Japanese fleet in Tokyo. You’ll tap and drag your finger around to move your plane around the screen. There are settings you can tweak that will allow you to automatically summersault, shoot and a number of other things.

In this version of the game, there are two modes: casual and classic. The casual mode is pretty simple and good for new players. You start off with two extra planes and full power-ups right off the bat, and you get a lot of assists with the settings. Classic mode is just like you remember it in the arcade. You start off with nothing and you like it.

Overall, the port of 1942 Mobile feels really good. I never played the arcade version of the game, but I have played 1942 in many other forms. This one didn’t disappoint. The graphics feel original and the controls are really responsive. This is definitely worth the dollar it costs to buy.